Knotted Rope

Last Candition:
May 27, 2011

4.3

Full and so much fun! No pothole escape gear needed right now. Lots of jumps and slides and scrambling.

Pools were muddy from recent rain but not stanky except for one or two with decaying vegetation in it. I was happy to have a wetsuit for the narrow section but it was not necessary on this 82° day.

In the upper section, water was overflowing from one pothole to the next. In the lower section, which is in full sun, the water was maybe 6-12" from the lip (at most) and it was still easy to pull ourselves out without assistance. These potholes are also bypassable LDC.

Car-to-car time from trailhead to airstrip was 7.5 hours with lots of time goofing around in pools, photos/videos, and long breaks. Such a fun day!

Water levels low, with a couple of swims. Down climb problems, and semi-keeper problems to overcome. Wetsuits were not needed in 80F temps. There is an exposed silo crossing, but very short and straightforward. Group agreed it is a much more fun time than Quandry.

Same conditions as reported week before - nearly full potholes, so no real escape problems. Used pack toss 2-3 times. A half dozen brief swimmers. It was 34° Sat. morning where we camped at about 6,600 elevation. Temps that day only reached maybe upper 60's. Water in a few potholes was on the frigid side. We wore full Farmer-Johns with jackets. Road conditions from I-70 approach are very good all the way to Hidden Splendor. A great pothole canyon with lots of variety.

Potholes were mostly full and the few mandatory keepers were easy to escape without much assistance. Wore a full 4:3 wetsuit, but found the water to be bearable without if you have an efficient group that keeps moving. Finished the canyon in around 4 hours from car at Quandary trailhead to exit.

Very beautiful approach and pleasant exit up the Muddy. Full of water, nothing technical right now. Fairly short pothole section, maybe an hour total in the part of it that is like a traditional canyon. 7 hours from TH to Hidden Splendor, which is a great place to camp. Wetsuits stayed in packs on a 75-degree day. Many potholes can be stemmed over.

Water levels were high enough to be glad we had 4/3 wetsuits (but maybe not needed if done in the heat of the day?). Water levels were low enough (4 ft down at the first keeper?) that we tossed a pack or two and partner assisted another couple potholes.

As a mixed group of we three took about four hours to do the approach and descend. We were a bit slow in part due to getting sucked into some drainages on top of the approach, we should have stayed high after exiting the scramble section. That time does not include the exit...we took the first major trail up to the ridge on the East so we could head directly over to the bottom of Quandary.

The main road was in great shape, but the last 0.6 miles to the TH require 4x4 with HC.

Overall dry, many potholes dry, but we still got wet a handful of times. We had a warm day and did not use wetsuits. We could touch ground in every pothole entered. 3 people took over 10 hours to complete.

Road was in ok shape. A passenger car would have difficulty but a stock SUV = no problems, if dry conditions. Q-Direct and up Knotted Rope. Full splasher. Everything is full. potholes are filterable. Very fun. 11 hours 58 minutes car to car. 2 people. wore 3mm wetsuits and needed them. Up climbing this canyon is a challenge and likely impossible without a partner and climbing/risks. In reverse, the route finding to the "Knotted Rope" gully was very difficult even with a GPS. Basically no cairns and took us longer than expected to find. The cabin ruins are pretty cool at the head of the canyon. (38.567917,-110.944021, type this into google maps) 4 platforms, a stove, and a waterheater looking thing. Good times with The Wife.

As previous trip reports have indicated, conditions are surprisingly wet. One Semi-keeper was easily defeated by pack toss. You could probably get away with shorty suits, however, I enjoyed my full 4/5. Three people going very slowly: from abandoned car at trail-head to airstrip: ~10 hrs down Knotted Rope and up muddy creek.

3 people (2 rookies); Down knotted rope and around up Muddy Creek in 7 hrs. Previous rainstorms had filled all the pot holes. Cold, cold, cold. Had to take a decent break 2/3 down knotted rope where the sun peeks in to warm the skinniest member on our journey. Extra effort went into avoiding water, unlike late spring or early fall, but great fun. Tossed packs repeatedly. Road washed out pretty bad just before the airstrip at Muddy Creek parking lot. Shout Out to ET!

2 ppl. Q-Direct down and up Knotted Rope. Lots of water. No anchors needed. Lots of water about a 1 foot below the lip potholes. Many potholes by-passable by competent climbers. No pack tosses needed. Used webbing to assist partners up and partner assisted a lot. Pipes were in place and useful to get up. No noteable difficulties in the canyon. Up The Knotted Rope section from the east most pothole to the last pothole was 4 hours. Route finding at the top to find the pass down to the “old car” area was hard , off-route and up-climbed the first two raps of quandary as seen in Jman’s video. This was not fun in the dark. Bring water filter. 3/2 wetsuits and were chili at times. See Quandary Candition.

What a BLAST! It rained 3 days before our trip and all the potholes were full of muddy water. We were flopping from one hole to the next. Never had to bypass any of the potholes because we wanted to be in all of them. The top foot of the potholes were hot tub warm so we mixed the pools with the cold water from lower and the temperature was just right. We did a bunch of cliff jumping from 20 feet into the potholes. The hike out Muddy Creek to the Landing Strip was a bit long for our youngsters (15 yrs old) but they all survived and loved it! Didn't use harness or rope the whole time.